{"id":428,"date":"2026-02-08T19:14:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T19:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/?p=428"},"modified":"2026-02-08T19:14:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T19:14:57","slug":"bunny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/?p=428","title":{"rendered":"Bunny"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Benito, my Grandma Connie
would have loved you.

She would have chatted 
with you in Vega Baja
as you bagged her groceries
at the Econo in your youth.

She would have leaned in
to you and said:
You know, 'Benito' is it? <\/em>
I think you are a lovely<\/em>
and earnest man.
May I share something with you?
I feel you're going places.
I have a gift for sensing these things.
I'll be watching for you! <\/em>

And when you 
made the mainland press
she would have diligently clipped 
your fotos and articles 
from the pages of Vanity Fair<\/em>
and the Up-And-Coming Artists! 
columns in the Times<\/em> and the Post<\/em>
and the Journal<\/em> and the Star<\/em>.

She would have mailed them to me 
enclosed in her signature 
blue sky stationery
with an American Flag stamp.
 
And she would have scrawled
in wide cursive 
rendered in Bic pen:

Di, you need to listen to <\/em>
this young man's art<\/em>.
He is impressive!<\/em> 
Look at the light in his eyes. <\/em>
Love, Grandma Connie<\/em>

She would have reminded me
that she came 
from modest beginnings
growing up off 8 Mile in Detroit.

She would have written me
that all Americans are bound
by our upbringing and passion.

She would have asserted 
your kinship with her
that you and she 
are ever-connected, as are we all.

And Benito, she would have 
championed you from afar.

She would have 
looked up your lyrics
and their translations
and then cried 
with the beauty and pain
of understanding.

She always carried her heart 
on her sleeve, like you.

She would have hailed
your music catalogue
as a modern magnum opus.

She would have held you up
as a secular saint 
of sound and self-worth.

She would have defended you
in circles of society
where curiosity 
lagged behind fear.

She would have driven her
souped-up V8 station wagon 
named Bunny--What a sign, Di!<\/em>
that she zoomed through
the dessert while she 
played your albums 
on her dash at max volume 
under open skies.

She would have 
called me this morning, 
first to report the time and weather,
and then she would have said:
Di, honey, don't forget to watch<\/em>
'Bad Bunny' at Half Time!<\/em>

And then she wouldn't 
be able to help herself, 
and she'd have to crow:

You know, Di, <\/em>
Benito and I<\/em>
we go <\/em>way back.
<\/em>
She would have melted 
into weepy emotive tears 
as she shared with me yet again, 
for maybe the dozenth time
what you stand for:
Empathy, Purpose, Community
Pride in home, Love for all.

She would have added:
He's such a dear! <\/em>
What a message he brings. <\/em>
So earnest!
Oh Diana, he gives me hope.<\/em>

Benito, 
my Grandma 
would have loved you.




<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cBunny,\u201d an homage to Benito “Bad Bunny” Antonio Martinez Ocasio, as imagined from my departed Grandma’s point of view. Written February 8, poem 039 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026. Photo by Diana Ludwick (c) 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[94,90,87,88,98,93,96,95,91,89,32,92],"class_list":["post-428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-poetry-challenge","category-poems","tag-8-mile","tag-american","tag-bad-bunny","tag-bunny","tag-empathy","tag-grandma","tag-intergenerational","tag-kinship","tag-music","tag-puerto-rico","tag-remembrance","tag-vanity-fair"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=428"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":436,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions\/436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}